Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he would not be travelling to Malaysia for the Asean summit, which rules out a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines and signals that the two countries are nowhere close to ironing out their differences over a trade deal.
The Prime Minister's announcement that he would participate virtually in the summit came after he spoke with his Malaysian counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim.
Modi did not specify why he would not be present in person at the Asean summit and related events, which he has attended fairly regularly over the past 11 years.
Anwar, in a separate post on X, said Modi had told him "he will attend virtually due to the ongoing Deepavali celebrations in India at that time". The Asean summit is scheduled in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28.
While India had not confirmed the Prime Minister’s participation in the Asean summit, the recent flurry of engagements between New Delhi and Washington, including some at the leadership level, had fuelled speculation of a possible Modi-Trump meeting in Malaysia.
The decision that Modi would not be in the Malaysian capital at the same time as Trump was taken after the two leaders provided contrasting versions of Wednesday's phone conversation, which took place when the US President called Modi to offer Diwali greetings.
While Trump told a Diwali-related gathering in the Oval Office that they had discussed trade, oil purchases from Russia and peace with Pakistan, Modi’s post on the conversation made no mention of any of these subjects.
All he said was: "Thank you, President Trump, for your phone call and warm Diwali greetings. On this festival of lights, may our two great democracies continue to illuminate the world with hope and stand united against terrorism in all its forms."
The reference to terrorism was seen by policy wonks here as a reminder to Trump about the Pakistani establishment's links to terrorism, particularly given the US President's repeated expressions of praise for Pakistani army chief Asim Munir.
Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal wrote on X: "If Modi went to Kuala Lumpur, a meeting with Trump would have had to be organised.
"Trump’s unpredictability and loose talk carry political risks. It is best to avoid a meeting with Trump unless the trade deal is sealed beforehand.
"The trade deal has to be finalised by the negotiators on both sides, not by the principals. Trump wants to set terms personally and publicly to get all the credit himself for any deal. He has also shown how he can embarrass other leaders with his brashness."
This is borne out by the series of claims Trump has made about "assurances" given by Modi to him on cutting back on the purchase of Russian oil, and about the US President brokering peace between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, knowing well how these comments would embarrass the Prime Minister.
The Asean summit had offered the third opportunity for a meeting between Modi and Trump in the five-and-a-half months since Operation Sindoor. In mid-June, the two were pencilled in to meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Kananaskis in Canada, but this did not happen as the President returned to the US ahead of schedule.
Last week, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi invited Modi, along with the heads of government of about 30 other countries, to attend the Gaza Peace Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. But India decided to send junior external affairs minister Kirti Vardhan Singh.
At the Asean summit, Trump is expected to preside over a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia which, too, he claims to have brokered.